Representative Peter Van Gaasbeck

Peter Van Gaasbeck (September 27, 1754 – 1797) was an American merchant and politician from Kingston, New York, who served one term in the United States House of Representatives during the early years of the federal government. His name is sometimes spelled “Van Gaasbeek,” reflecting variations in Dutch-derived surnames common in colonial and early national New York.

Van Gaasbeck was born on September 27, 1754, in Ulster County, New York, into the Dutch-descended community that had long been established in the Hudson Valley. He was educated in Kingston, then an important commercial and administrative center in Ulster County. Growing up in this environment, he became familiar with the mercantile and civic life of the region, which would shape his later career in business and public affairs.

During the American Revolutionary War, Van Gaasbeck served in the Ulster County militia, attaining the rank of major. His service placed him among the many local officers who were responsible for the defense of the Hudson River valley, a strategically vital corridor contested by British and American forces. As a militia major, he would have been involved in organizing local defense, maintaining order, and supporting the broader Continental war effort in a region that saw repeated military activity and disruption.

After the war, Van Gaasbeck established himself as a successful merchant in Kingston. Engaged in trade in a period when the Hudson River towns were growing commercial centers, he participated in the economic rebuilding and expansion that followed independence. Like many merchants and property owners of his time and place, he owned slaves, a fact that reflects the persistence of slavery in late eighteenth-century New York, particularly in the Hudson Valley, where enslaved labor was used in both domestic and commercial contexts.

Van Gaasbeck’s prominence in business and local affairs led him into politics during the formative years of the United States under the Constitution. He became a supporter of the administration of President George Washington and aligned himself with the political group that favored a strong national government and commercial development, later recognized as the Federalist Party. In 1791 he was nominated as the Federalist candidate for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from New York. He was elected and served in the 3rd United States Congress, representing New York from March 4, 1793, to March 3, 1795. During his term, Congress addressed foundational issues of the new federal government, including fiscal policy, the organization of executive departments, and the nation’s response to domestic unrest and foreign conflicts, and Van Gaasbeck sat as part of the pro-administration majority that generally supported Washington’s policies.

In his personal life, Van Gaasbeck married relatively late by the standards of his era. In 1794 he married Sarah Dumont (or Dumond), joining two families rooted in the Dutch and Huguenot communities of the region. Their marriage took place while he was still serving in Congress, at a time when Kingston and the surrounding area were transitioning from their colonial past into the social and political structures of the early republic.

Peter Van Gaasbeck died in Kingston in 1797. He was buried at the First Dutch Reformed Church in Kingston, an institution central to the religious and communal life of the area’s Dutch-descended population. His career as a Revolutionary-era militia officer, merchant, and early Federalist congressman situates him among the local leaders who helped guide New York and the new nation through the turbulent transition from colony to independent republic.